Santa Kisses
by cleotheo
Summary: At his Christmas party, Scorpius Malfoy, sees his mother kissing Santa Clause. Not wanting Santa to steal his mother he sets out to make sure that he never visits the Malfoys again. Fun festive fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – Welcome to this year's festive offering – Santa Kisses. This is a short story with six chapters and updates will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since it's the festive season, this story is cute family fluff inspired by one of the Christmas films I actually like. I hope you all enjoy Santa Kisses.**

* * *

Hermione Malfoy laid the final plate of food onto the large dining room table and nodded appreciatively at the sight. The entire table was filled with festive food and drink for the Christmas party she was hosting for her six year old son, Scorpius, and all his friends. Technically it was still early for a Christmas party as December had only just begun, but her friends all had busy lives and it was the only weekend before Christmas that everyone could make the party.

Leaving the dining room, Hermione wandered back into the front room, which was already decorated for Christmas. Normally Hermione didn't have her decorations up as early, but with the party she'd made an exception and her large house was appropriately decorated for the festive season.

"Scorpius," Hermione called when her son wasn't in the front room.

"I'm here Mum," Scorpius cried as he entered the room with the Malfoys black cat, Midnight, trailing behind him like a lap dog.

"What have you been up to?" Hermione asked suspiciously. As a mini Slytherin in the making her son could be very devious, a trait she liked to put down to his father, even though she herself could be just as sly and sneaky as her husband.

"I was checking to see if it was snowing," Scorpius replied with a sigh. "But it wasn't."

"Why do you want it to snow?" Hermione asked.

"It always snows at Christmas," Scorpius replied seriously. What he didn't know was that his father and grandfather always used magic to make it snow at Christmas, and in actual fact Scorpius had never seen a real white Christmas.

"But it's not Christmas," Hermione pointed out.

"But it's my Christmas party, that's the same thing," Scorpius argued.

Knowing it was pointless to argue with her stubborn son, Hermione changed the subject and checked Scorpius was ready to receive his guests. Just as Scorpius was informing Hermione he was ready for the party, the sound of the floo activating came from the floo room and he ran across the hallway to see who had arrived.

By the time Hermione followed her son to the floo room her good friend, Daphne Zabini, was emerging from the flames with her six year old, Alex. Alex also happened to be Scorpius's best friend and the pair were inseparable. They'd actually been born on the same day, and their fathers often joked that they were like twins who had just happened to have different parents.

"How are things going?" Daphne asked as the boys ran back to the front room.

"Everything's in hand," Hermione replied with a smile. "The food's all done and the presents are all wrapped and upstairs in a sack."

"And Mr Weasley is still happy to play Santa?" Daphne checked.

Hermione had arranged for Arthur Weasley to surprise the children by appearing at Santa Clause and handing out presents. Despite the fact Santa was a muggle thing, all the children believed in him and knew about him courtesy of Hermione and her best friend, Harry Potter, who'd also grown up in the muggle world.

"Arthur will be here later with Molly," Hermione confirmed as the two witches headed towards the front room.

"What are you doing?" Daphne demanded as they entered the front room and found the boys wrapping tinsel around the cat.

"Giving Midnight a festive make-over," Scorpius replied as he pulled a piece of tinsel from Hermione's neatly decorated tree and began to wind it around the feline.

"Stop that," Hermione scolded as she began to unwrap the cat.

"But he likes it," Scorpius pouted.

"He's too soft for his own good," Hermione muttered, shaking her head at Midnight who had been content to just let the boys do what they wanted with him.

"There's the floo again, go and see who it is," Daphne said to the boys as the distinctive sound of the floo network sounded while Hermione was busy sorting the tree.

"Those boys will be the death of me," Hermione sighed, turning back to her friend. "Remind me again why we decided to have children with Slytherins?"

"They charmed us I guess," Daphne laughed.

"They did that," Hermione agreed, laughing along with Daphne as she turned her attention to the new arrivals.

The newest guests were Harry's wife, Ginny and their two children, James and Lily. From there on there was a solid procession of guests. Luna Longbottom arrived with her and Neville's four year old twin girls, Ron Weasley's wife, Lavender, arrived with their daughter, Rose. Angelina and Alicia Weasley, wives of the Weasley twins, arrived with their children, along with Bill's wife Fleur and their two girls. Pansy Nott arrived with her three children in tow, and she was followed by the wives of Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe and their children.

"I can't believe we're playing host to all these children while the men are off drinking," Pansy remarked as Scorpius put on some muggle Christmas songs and the children began to sing and dance along.

"Would you rather they were here and we had to look after them as well?" Hermione asked with a laugh. "Come on Pans, you know our husbands are more of a handful than our children could ever be."

"I'd drink to that," Angelina chuckled. "If anyone asks me I say I have two children, one five year old girl and one thirty five year old man."

Laughing at Angelina, Hermione heard the floo network sounding again so she excused herself. When she entered the floo room she found it was her mother-in-law, Narcissa. Greeting Narcissa, she was about to send her into the front room when the fire lit up again and Molly Weasley emerged. The only problem was, Molly was alone and she was supposed to be bringing Arthur with her.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, but Arthur is unwell," Molly apologised. "I've been trying all morning to perk him up with potions, but he's as sick as a dog. There's no way he can play Santa this afternoon."

"It's okay Molly, we'll find an alternative," Hermione assured the older witch as she could see how bad she felt. "I just hope Arthur gets well soon. Why don't you go through and join in the fun. And if they're decorating the cat again, will you tell them to leave the poor thing along. I swear, one day Midnight will rebel and scratch Scorpius's eyes out."

"I don't think so Hermione, that cat of yours is so laid back it wouldn't know how to stand up for itself," Molly chuckled as she headed off to take charge of the unruly children. After all, she was an expert in dealing with high spirited children.

"Is Lucius at home?" Hermione asked her mother-in-law. Her mind was now back on finding someone to replace Arthur and play the role of Santa for the children.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, he's in France for the day visiting an old friend," Narcissa replied. "Maybe Draco or one of his friends could help. They're all together, aren't they?"

"Yes, they were all spending the afternoon at Dean and Seamus's pub," Hermione said with a nod of her head. "Okay, you hold the fort here and I'll go and find us a willing volunteer to play Santa."

"Good luck," Narcissa said, not sure how easy Hermione would find it to persuade Draco or one of his friends to help.

Grabbing her jacket, Hermione quickly made sure the party was still going strong before she flooed to the pub her old friend's, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan owned. Dean was the first person she'd seen, and he directed Hermione towards a back booth where her husband and friends were gathered enjoying a relaxing afternoon while their children were enjoying a party at Hermione's house.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Draco asked, jumping up in concern as he spotted his wife.

"We've got a problem," Hermione said. "Arthur is ill."

"And that's a problem?" Blaise questioned with a frown.

"It is when he was supposed to be playing Santa for the children," Hermione replied. "I've got a suit and a bag full of presents at the house."

"No," Draco said as he sat back down in his seat and shook his head at his wife.

"No what, she hasn't asked anything," Theo pointed out.

"She's going to want me to play Santa," Draco replied. "And the answer is no."

"Not even for your son?" Hermione asked. "Scorpius will be thrilled to see Santa."

"But it won't be Santa, it will be his father in an ugly red suit posing as a very dubious muggle," Draco argued.

"Did you just call Santa, dubious?" Harry laughed.

"I did," Draco confirmed. "Think about it. He's some fat old man making lists of children and deciding if they're worthy of presents. He then spends an entire night sneaking into people's homes and scoffing their milk and cookies. It's not right."

"It's a story, Draco," Hermione retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"Not a very credible one," Blaise offered. "How gullible must you be to believe he's real? As if he could get around the entire world in one night, on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. It's preposterous."

"It's called magic, Blaise," Harry chuckled. "Santa can do all of that because he's magic."

"Are you calling Santa a wizard?" Fred asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm fairly sure he never went to Hogwarts," George added.

"For crying out loud, this is the stupidest conversation I've ever had," Hermione tutted, jumping in before the boys got into a full on debate about Santa. "All I want is one of you to come back with me and play Santa for the kids. It'll take a couple of hours at the most."

"Go on then Draco, hop to it," Theo said, nudging his friend in the ribs.

"Why me?" Draco demanded. "Your kids are there too. In fact, every wizard at this table has kids at that party."

"Yes, but you're the one whose wife has come calling," Bill pointed out. "And we all know Hermione likes to get her own way."

"But if one of you go with her, she'll still get what she wants," Draco argued.

"Yeah, but she can threaten you," Blaise said to his best friend.

"I can," Hermione confirmed with a sly smirk.

"Come on then Granger, do your worst," Draco retorted challengingly.

Still smirking, Hermione leaned across the table until she was face to face with her husband before issuing her threat. "No sex for the rest of the year."

"Ouch," Blaise hissed as all the wizards around the table chuckled slightly. "Now that's harsh."

"You'll never do it," Draco replied confidently, his grey eyes never leaving his wife's brown ones.

"Do you want to try me?" Hermione retorted. "Because I have a house full of children back at home. Children who will be devastated if Santa doesn't pay them a visit."

"If you seriously expect me to do this, I want something in return," Draco said.

"Isn't the pleasure of seeing your son happy payment enough?" Hermione asked as she stood back up to her full height.

"Not really," Draco replied with a shake of his head. "If you expect me to wear that hideous red suit Santa wears, I'll need incentive."

"How about I send Scorpius to the manor with Narcissa this evening, and I'll give Santa a very personal thank you," Hermione suggested in a husky voice.

"Hell, if you don't go Draco, I will," Blaise muttered.

"You keep your hands to yourself, Zabini," Draco hissed, his possessive nature shining through at the thought of another wizard, even his best friend who was happily married, lusting over his wife.

"So you'll do it?" Hermione checked with a wide grin.

"I'll do it," Draco confirmed as he rose to his feet. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said to his friends. "And line up the drinks. I'll need something to help me recover from the ordeal."

"There's no need to be so dramatic, Draco," Hermione said as she led Draco back towards the floo so they could go home.

Once at home, Hermione snuck Draco up to their room and showed him where she'd hidden the Santa suit and sack of presents. She and Daphne had sorted the presents, so every child would get something personally tailored to them.

"When you're ready, sneak back downstairs and then make a big entrance into the front room," Hermione ordered her husband. "Remember to disguise your voice. It'll ruin the whole thing if Scorpius finds out who's in the suit."

"Believe me, I don't want anyone knowing I'm doing this," Draco muttered, eyeing up the red suit and it's stuffing in distaste.

"Just think of the thank you I'll give you later," Hermione said, shooting her husband a sexy smile before hurrying back to the party.

It was nearly half an hour before Draco put in an appearance in his Santa suit, and the second he made a show of entering the house, the children went wild. Despite his initial distaste for the idea, Draco ended up getting into his role and as he saw how happy Scorpius and his friends were, he began to enjoy himself. In fact he spent nearly an hour handing our presents and making up answers to all the questions the youngsters were throwing his way.

"Santa has to go now," Draco said as he finally prised himself away from Scorpius.

"Can't you stay?" Scorpius asked with a pout. "We're going to have cake."

"Sorry young man, I have to get back to my reindeers," Draco said, ruffling his son's platinum blond hair.

"Say hello to Rudolph from me," Alex called. "Rudolph is my favourite. Is he your favourite Santa?"

"I am fond of him," Draco answered, even though he didn't for one minute recall what was special about Rudolph.

"Prancer is the best," Lily Potter argued.

"No Dasher," her brother James insisted.

"Dancer," another voice called.

"No, Vixen," yet another cried.

Sensing it was the perfect time to escape, Draco slipped out of the room while the children started to debate which reindeer was the best. With the children distracted, Hermione had followed her husband out of the front room and instead of letting him go straight upstairs to get changed, she pulled him into the nearby library. However, what neither of them had noticed was that Scorpius and Alex had followed them hoping to say a final goodbye to Santa and they peered through the partly open door at the pair.

"Thank you," Hermione said to her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck. "The children were thrilled you came."

"I didn't just do it to keep them happy, I did it for my reward," Draco replied.

"Don't worry Santa, I'll give you your reward tonight," Hermione purred.

"I can't wait," Draco said with a grin, giving Hermione's bum a quick squeeze.

"Santa, I'm a married woman," Hermione gasped.

"Not tonight you're not," Draco replied. "Tonight you belong to Santa."

"Is he going to unwrap me?" Hermione teased.

"Damn right he is," Draco growled, crashing his lips against Hermione's and wrapping his arms firmly around her waist, pulling her tight against him.

Outside the room, Scorpius watched the entire interaction with an open mouth and when he saw Santa kissing his mother, he turned on his heel and ran into the floo room next door. Alex went running after his best friend and for a couple of minutes the two boys just looked at each other in shock. They'd always thought Santa was a nice man, but now it seemed as though he was trying to steal Scorpius's mother away from his father.

"Do you think your Mum will leave your Dad?" Alex asked in a whisper.

"Do you think Santa will take her away?" Scorpius asked in horror.

"I hope not, I don't want you to go and live in the North Pole," Alex replied in all seriousness.

"I don't want to live in the North Pole," Scorpius cried. "I hate Santa."

"Me too," Alex agreed with a nod. "He's a bad man. We need to keep him away from your Mum."

"Yeah," Scorpius agreed with a thoughtful nod.

"But how?" Alex mused.

"I can be bad," Scorpius suggested. "Santa only comes when we're good, so if I'm bad he won't come back and he won't try and steal my Mum."

"But bad means no Christmas presents," Alex pointed out, nibbling worriedly at his lower lip. "I want presents Scorp."

"This is more important than presents," Scorpius said solemnly. "I need to keep Mum and Dad together and get rid of Santa. Will you help me, Alex?"

"I will," Alex replied after a slight moment's hesitation. "Let's get rid of Santa."

Sharing a wicked smirk the two six year olds snuck out of the floo room and re-joined the party without anyone noticing they'd been missing. However, Scorpius was unable to hide his anger at Hermione and she was left wondering why her son was suddenly giving her the cold shoulder. He wouldn't even go with Narcissa to the manor after the party had ended and when Draco returned home, Hermione had to inform him that Santa's thank you would have to wait. Right now they had a moody six year old to contend with, and Scorpius had made it clear he wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't going to give Santa a chance to swoop in and steal his mother from his father. He was going to stop the old man in his tracks and make sure he never visited the Malfoys again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Scorpius!" Hermione yelled up the stairs for the third time in as many minutes as the sound of her son jumping around like a lunatic in his bedroom reverberated around the house.

Hermione was at the end of her tether with her son. Scorpius was naturally mischievous, but he was also a good kid and she never usually had any problems with him. However, for the last week he'd been an absolute terror and refused to do anything she said. When Draco was around he was an angel, but the second her husband headed off to work or was busy, their son started to act up.

When the banging from upstairs continued, Hermione stormed up the stairs to her son's bedroom. Opening the door she froze in horror at the sight that greeted her. Scorpius's toys were thrown all over the floor, rather than tucked away in their toy box as they normally were. There was also clothes strewn all over the room, and Scorpius himself was jumping up and down on his bed wearing a pair of muddy boots.

"Scorpius Malfoy, what are you doing?" Hermione yelled.

"Bouncing," Scorpius replied, not stopping jumping up and down on his bed.

"Get off that bed now," Hermione hissed. "And tidy these toys up."

"Don't want to," Scorpius answered, not making any move to get off the bed.

"Stop it now," Hermione ordered, storming into the room and gently grabbing her son by the arm so he would stop bouncing. "I don't know what's up with you lately, but it stops now. Tidy these toys, or there'll be trouble when your father gets back from work. Do you not realise it's nearly Christmas and bad boys don't get any presents from Santa."

"I don't want anything from Santa," Scorpius spat, curling his lip in disgust as he pulled out of Hermione's grasp and hopped off his bed.

"You're going the right way about making sure you don't get anything at all for Christmas," Hermione retorted. "I'll be back in an hour and heaven help you if you haven't started to tidy up."

Fuming at her son and his out of character behaviour, Hermione stormed back downstairs where she made herself a cup of coffee and tried to calm herself down. From upstairs there was no sound from her son and Hermione hoped that it meant that he was finally doing as he was told and tidying his room. After giving it an hour she slowly made her way back up to Scorpius's room.

"You better have done some tidying," Hermione called out as she approached her son's room.

Pushing open the door, Hermione let out a loud sigh of frustration as she found her son's room in exactly the same state as it had been an hour earlier. Only this time there was no sign of her son. His muddy boots were lying abandoned on the floor, but Scorpius wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Scorpius?" Hermione called, peering into her son's wardrobe in case he was hiding in there.

Finding no sign of Scorpius in his room, Hermione checked the bathroom next to her son's room. She then checked the second bathroom and the spare room, before heading towards the master bedroom she and Draco shared. There was no sign of Scorpius in the bedroom, but when Hermione checked the adjoining bathroom, she found her son standing beside the large bathtub. Scorpius had water running into the tub, and he was standing emptying every single bottle he could find into the running water.

"Scorpius," Hermione cried, causing her son to jump and drop the bottle of bubble bath he was tipping into the bath into the tub. "What are you doing?"

"Playing," Scorpius answered as he reached for another bottle.

"I don't think so," Hermione said, snatching Draco's shampoo from their son's hands before it was tipped into the bath. Pulling Scorpius away from the bath, she pulled out the plug and looked around at the mess he'd created. "Just what is wrong with you?" she snapped, glaring at her son.

"I hate you," Scorpius hissed, turning on his heel and running from the room.

Hermione was stunned by her son's words and she stood motionless in the bathroom for nearly five minutes, wondering what she'd done to earn her son's wrath. Still not sure what she'd done to upset Scorpius, Hermione magically tidied the bathroom and placed the empty bottles to one side so she knew what she needed to replace. Taking a deep breath she then made her way back to her son's room.

"Scorpius?" Hermione called gently, pushing open the door to find her son lying curled up on his bed, his back towards the door. "Scorp." Making her way to her son's bed, she perched behind him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Please tell me."

"I don't want you to leave Daddy," Scorpius whispered, and Hermione could hear the tears in his voice.

"Why would I leave your Daddy?" Hermione asked with a frown. "Scorpius, I am not leaving your Daddy. I love him. I love you both."

"Really?" Scorpius questioned in a small voice as he rolled over to face his mother.

"Really," Hermione promised. "I don't know where you got such a silly idea, but it will never happen. We will always be together, Scorpius. You, me and Daddy."

"I don't really hate you," Scorpius admitted.

"I know sweetheart," Hermione replied, ruffling her son's hair. "Now why don't we tidy up together and then we can go and have some lunch?"

Not sure where Scorpius had gotten the idea from, but satisfied she'd dealt with his worries, Hermione helped her son tidy his room. After stripping the bed to wash the muddy bedding, Hermione and Scorpius headed downstairs to grab some lunch. For the first time in a week, Scorpius was as good as gold and did whatever Hermione asked of him, so when she sat down to eat her lunch, she was convinced that the worst was over and she'd sorted the problem with her son.

Just as they were finishing lunch, and discussing what to do all afternoon, the doorbell rang. Leaving Scorpius to finish his meal, Hermione went to the door, where a delivery driver handed her a large bouquet of red roses.

"Woah," Scorpius gasped when Hermione returned to the kitchen with the flowers in her hand.

"Woah, indeed," Hermione said, placing the flowers on the table and plucking out the card that came with them.

Opening the card, she smiled when she read the message. **_For the beautiful Mrs Malfoy. Don't forget you still owe me a thank you. Love Santa. Xxx._**

Summoning a vase, Hermione filled it with water and arranged the flowers inside. She then stood the arrangement on the kitchen table, placing the card beside them. Not noticing Scorpius's curious stare at the flowers and card, Hermione gathered the plates and began to do the washing up, all the time chatting about what she and Scorpius could do that afternoon.

However, as Hermione washed up she had no idea Scorpius had opened the card and was reading the message with a scowl on his small face. Seeing the flowers were from Santa, and he'd signed the card with kisses, Scorpius reached for the red roses and tore some petals from the pretty flowers. Sending petals scattering everywhere, he then swung his arm at the vase, sending it crashing to the floor.

"What happened?" Hermione cried, spinning around and sending bubbles flying from her washing up. "Scorpius?" she questioned, noticing the torn rose petals scattered over the table.

"My arm slipped," Scorpius muttered with a scowl.

"Which would explain the broken vase, but not the rose petals," Hermione said. "Did you rip the petals from my flowers?"

"I might have," Scorpius replied with an unbothered shrug of his shoulders.

"That is it," Hermione yelled. "I've had enough. Get to your bedroom and stay there until your father gets home. He can deal with you, I've had about as much as I can take today."

Stomping from the kitchen, Scorpius bolted back to his bedroom and Hermione winced as she heard the door slamming behind him. Drying her hands, she then used magic to fix the vase her son had broken and repair the damage he'd done to her beautiful roses. Taking the roses into the front room, she placed them on the fireplace and cast a spell over them to stop Scorpius from destroying them for a second time. She then sat down on the sofa and tried to work out where she'd gone wrong, and how her son had turned into such a nightmare.

* * *

A couple of days later, Scorpius was still playing up. Hermione had yet to really get to the bottom of why he was misbehaving, but it didn't help that whenever anyone else was around, he was usual lovely self. When Draco had confronted him about the roses, he'd claimed it was just an accident and he'd convinced Draco that he was sorry and would never do it again. However, he still wasn't doing anything Hermione was asking of him and she was getting sick to death of shouting at her son over stupid little things that he was clearly just doing to wind her up.

"It's as though someone else has taken over his body," Hermione confided to Daphne one afternoon when her friend had popped over with Alex.

Hermione had thought about cancelling the meeting as she wasn't sure Scorpius deserved an afternoon with her best friend, but she'd needed some support and was desperate to talk to someone other than Draco about the problems she was having with Scorpius. So even though Scorpius didn't really deserve it, he was outside playing in the light snow that had fallen that morning, while she was sitting in the warm kitchen baring her soul to Daphne.

"I thought they got all moody and argumentative when they became teenagers," Daphne remarked.

"So did I," Hermione replied with a sigh. "But I now have a six year old terror on my hands, and I don't know how to deal with him."

"Have you spoken to him?" Daphne asked.

"The best I got was a brief conversation a couple of days ago," Hermione replied. "He seemed worried that I was going to leave Draco. I promised him that it would never happen, and that seemed to calm him down for a while. But then he tore my roses to pieces and broke the vase they were in. Since then he won't do a thing I say."

"Why would he think you were leaving Draco?" Daphne asked with a frown.

"I have no idea," Hermione said. "But I don't even know if that's the problem. I thought we'd sorted it, and then he started playing up again. I've tried asking him about it since, but he won't tell me anything."

"What about threatening him with no presents from Santa," Daphne suggested. "With Christmas around the corner, it's how I bring Alex into line."

"I've done that, and apparently he doesn't care," Hermione replied. "He says he doesn't want anything from Santa."

"Can Draco not sort him out?" Daphne asked, rapidly running out of ideas as like Hermione she was used to dealing with a mischievous son, not a downright naughty one.

"Draco's talked to him, but the trouble is, Scorp's an angel when he's around," Hermione replied. "I'm the only one he's playing up for."

Daphne was just about to say that she wasn't sure what else to suggest when the back door flew open and Scorpius and Alex ran into the room.

"Shut the door behind you," Hermione ordered her son.

Instead of doing as he was asked, Scorpius stamped his snow covered boots on the wooden kitchen floor, before flinging off his coat and throwing it on the floor. He then raced from the room and pounded up the stairs. Alex sheepishly closed the back door, before wiping his boots on the mat, carefully hanging up his coat and following his best friend upstairs.

"See what I mean?" Hermione asked with an exasperated sigh as she got to her feet. "He's just being a brat."

Picking up her son's coat she went to hang it up when her heel landed in a puddle of melting snow. Before Hermione could stop herself she went sliding to the floor and banged her hip against the kitchen counter.

"Hermione," Daphne cried, jumping up to help her friend.

"I'm going to kill that kid," Hermione muttered as she allowed Daphne to help her to her feet.

"It was an accident, Hermione," Daphne said gently. "Granted, Scorpius wouldn't normally just stomp in without wiping his feet, but he is just a kid. Maybe he was just impatient to get upstairs to play."

"He deliberately ignored me, Daph," Hermione insisted. "What is going on? Where's my son gone, and how do I get him back?"

"I don't know," Daphne admitted with a sigh. "Hopefully it's just a phase and he'll snap out of it. Surely he can't carry on this way, not with Christmas around the corner."

"I hope not," Hermione sighed, hoping that whatever was going on with Scorpius was resolved before it ruined Christmas for the entire family.


	3. Chapter 3

With Scorpius's behaviour still not any better, Hermione had second thoughts about allowing him to go to The Burrow for an arranged afternoon of festive fun. Every year Molly gathered her grandchildren, including Scorpius who like Hermione was an honorary part of the family, and they spent the afternoon doing something festive. Sometimes they baked, or made decorations, but one thing they always did was write letters to Santa. Molly then used the letters to buy something the children really wanted, and she always made sure their parents also got the list in case they wanted to check what their children wanted.

"I really don't know about this, Molly," Hermione informed the older witch when she and Scorpius arrived at The Burrow. Even though she'd informed Molly of recent events, she had still urged her to bring Scorpius to The Burrow for the afternoon.

"I think you could do with a break," Molly said kindly. "You look totally stressed."

"I am," Hermione admitted. "I just don't know how to deal with him. I've never seen him like this before."

"He's just testing the boundaries," Molly said. "Charlie went through the exact same thing. He was a little devil for me, but whenever Arthur was at home, he was an angel."

"How did you get him to stop?" Hermione asked, eager for some advice.

"He just snapped out of it, just like he snapped into it," Molly replied with a shrug. "I'm sure it'll be the same with Scorpius. Whenever he gets whatever it is out of his system, he'll be back to his normal self."

"I hope so, because I don't think I can take much more," Hermione confessed. "I'm seriously considering rejiggling work so I'm not at home as much in the New Year. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I'm around too much."

"As I say, I'm sure it's just a phase," Molly reassured the younger witch. "Scorpius is a good boy."

"Not at the moment he's not," Hermione muttered. "So are you really sure you want to have him? I'd understand if you didn't want the stress."

"Hermione I raised six boys, and Ginny wasn't exactly an angel either," Molly chuckled. "I know how to handle high-spirited children. If I can cope with my seven, I can cope with Scorpius."

"Okay, but if he so much as puts a toe out of line, give me a call and I'll come and get him," Hermione said.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine," Molly replied confidently. "Now off you go and have a good time. Don't worry about a thing. Scorpius will be just fine."

"Thank you Molly," Hermione said sincerely as she smiled at the older witch.

Satisfied that Molly would call if there were any problems, Hermione said goodbye to her son, only to have him wriggle away from her when she tried to peck him on the cheek. Shaking her head, she turned back to Molly who reassured her that Scorpius not wanting a kiss from her was usual for a boy his age. After all, he was growing up and no doubt didn't want to be kissed by his mother in front of the other children.

"Be good," Hermione warned her son, before she left The Burrow and headed off to do some Christmas shopping and hopefully have a few hours of peace before it was time to deal with her son again.

While Hermione was shipping, Scorpius was a perfectly behaved guest as he joined the other children writing and decorating their letters to Santa. Watching him interact with her other grandchildren, Molly couldn't help but wonder if Hermione was over-reacting to a bit of high-spiritedness. Maybe the pressure of the festive season was getting to Hermione, and she was blowing a bit of mischievousness from her son out of proportion.

"How are you getting along, Scorpius?" Molly asked. "Do you need any help?"

"No thank you Nana Molly," Scorpius replied, smiling angelically up at Molly.

"Do you need any help with your spelling?" she asked. Although to be honest, she doubted Scorpius would need much help as he was a very intelligent boy and he already had quite impressive reading and writing skills.

"No," Scorpius answered with a shake of his head. "But do you have more Santa stickers?"

"Of course," Molly replied. "James, pass the stickers down to Scorpius."

Leaving Scorpius to play with his stickers, Molly moved around the table to check on the other grandchildren. The kitchen table was covered in glitter and stickers, and Molly knew she would have a right mess to clean up later, but she didn't care. Every one of her grandchildren were having fun, and she knew how much it meant to them to send their own personal letters to Santa.

An hour and a half later, everyone had written their letters and had sealed them in envelopes, they'd then also decorated. Gathering the envelopes up, with the promise to post them to Santa, Molly handed her grandchildren a mince pie and a glass of milk each, and sent them into the front room to play while she started to clear up the mess in the kitchen.

When the kitchen was rid of the majority of the mess, Molly made herself a cup of tea and settled down to peek at the children's letters. She was easily able to pinpoint at least one thing to buy for each grandchild, and while she read the letters, she made her Christmas list of presents she wanted to buy. The last letter she opened belonged to Scorpius, and when she first opened it up, she had to read it twice before she could believe what she was seeing.

Slightly perturbed by the content of Scorpius's letter, Molly put it to one side to show Hermione when she arrived to pick up her son. She then headed into the living room to join the children, where she found Scorpius was being his usual self and mixing with his friends just fine. To be honest, if it hadn't been for his letter to Santa, Molly would have said that there was nothing amiss with the six year old and Hermione was possibly overwrought and making a mountain out of a molehill.

By the time Hermione returned to pick Scorpius up, several of the other children had gone home, and he was sitting quite happily colouring in with James and Lily. The sight of Scorpius behaving himself made Hermione smile in relief, but it was short lived as Molly took her into the kitchen and handed her Scorpius's letter to Santa.

"I think you should take a look," Molly said as the two witches sat down at the kitchen table.

Opening the letter, Hermione was stunned by what greeted her. Instead of the usual letter, asking for presents and thanking Santa for the previous year's gifts, Scorpius's message was short and blunt. The letter was addressed to Mr fat, stinky Santa, and Scorpius had warned him to stay away from their house or else. The letter was then covered with Santa stickers, all of whom had been disfigured in some way. Some stickers were missing arms and legs, and there was even a couple with no heads.

"What the hell?" Hermione muttered, looking up at Molly and finding she was just as stunned as she was by the content of the letter.

"It rather took me by surprise as well," Molly said. "Do you think he's stopped believing in Santa?"

"He seemed to believe in him at his Christmas party a few weeks ago," Hermione pointed out.

"Could he have seen Draco and realised what was going on?" Molly questioned. "Maybe he's rebelling because his illusion of Santa has been destroyed?"

"Draco was really careful," Hermione said with a shake of his head. "I would swear that Scorpius didn't know it was him in that suit. Do you think we should ask him about the letter?"

"That would mean admitting we've read it and didn't just send it to the North Pole," Molly said. "And once Scorpius knows we do that, the others will soon know."

"You're right, let's not shatter any more illusions," Hermione said. "Maybe I should offer to take him to go and see Santa. If he says no, then I'll know there's a problem."

"It can't hurt," Molly agreed with a nod.

"And aside from the letter, has he behaved himself?" Hermione checked.

"He's been no bother at all," Molly replied.

"If only he were like that at home," Hermione said, sliding her son's letter into her bag to show Draco. "Thank you for having him, Molly."

"You're welcome," Molly replied. "And let me know if you ever find out what Santa did to upset him."

"Will do," Hermione returned.

Taking Scorpius home, Hermione did try and get to the bottom of her son's threat to Santa, but without revealing she had the letter, it was hard to do. And it was made even harder by the fact her son was barely speaking to her, and the first chance he got, he was off to his bedroom.

Draco was also taken aback by the letter when he saw it, and like Hermione he agreed that they should offer to take him to visit Santa. However, Scorpius refused to even entertain going out with Hermione, and he only agreed to go and see Santa when Hermione suggested that her parents take him.

* * *

"Thank you for doing this, Mum," Hermione said, hugging her mother as she and her father prepared to take their grandson to see Santa.

Even though Scorpius and his friends all knew, and believed in Santa, it was still a muggle tradition that had yet to take off in the wizarding world. Which meant that anyone wanting to go and visit Santa, would have to venture into the muggle world. And while that was easy for Hermione and Harry, a lot of their friends struggled, which was why Hermione had arranged to have Santa visit Scorpius's Christmas party.

"It'll be a delight to take Scorpius out for the afternoon," Jean Granger assured her daughter.

"Just as long as you're prepared for the fact he might not be too welcoming towards Santa," Hermione warned.

"He seems keen enough to see him," Jean remarked, glancing over to where an excited Scorpius was putting his coat on with his grandfather.

"He does," Hermione agreed. "Let's hope he doesn't want to see him to cause trouble. I'd be mortified if Scorpius turned into one of those kids who de-bearded Santa in public and ruined the moment for other children."

"You think that's what he's planning?" Jean asked with a chuckle. "Reveal Santa to the world?"

"I wouldn't put it past the little brat at the moment," Hermione muttered.

"Don't worry, we'll keep him in line," Jean assured her daughter. "Okay boys, are we ready to go?" she called to her grandson and husband.

"All ready," Richard Granger confirmed as he made sure he had tight hold of his grandson's hand.

"Have fun," Hermione called. "And be good," she added to her son.

"I will," Scorpius returned with a devious looking grin, before he headed off with his grandparents.

Leaving Hermione to wonder just what her son was planning, Scorpius merrily headed off into the muggle world with his grandparents. Even though seeing Santa was their main reason for the trip, Richard and Jean still planned on making an afternoon of it, and the first place they took Scorpius was for some lunch. After a treat of burgers and ice-cream, they then headed to a large shopping centre, where Richard and Jean bought their grandson some Christmas presents, before joining the line for Santa.

"Do you know what you're going to ask Santa for?" Richard asked his grandson.

"Yes," Scorpius replied with a firm nod. "I know what I want from him."

As they crept forward in the line, Santa slowly came into view, sitting in his grotto meeting the excited youngsters. As soon as he got his eyes on Santa, Scorpius began to scowl at the man who was trying to take his mother away from his father. Eager to get to his turn, where he was planning on warning Santa to stay away from Hermione, Scorpius continued to glare at the man in the red suit. As he did so, he could feel something bubbling inside of him, but Scorpius was too focused on the warning he was going to give Santa, to give much thought to the strange feeling he'd only ever felt whenever his magic manifested itself accidently.

Oblivious to the accidental magic bubbling in their grandson, Jean and Richard patiently waited for Scorpius's turn to see Santa. However, their wait was interrupted by a commotion in the grotto, and they gasped in shock at the sight of Santa falling off his chair. As the children began to scream in horror, and the elves began to fuss over Santa, Jean grabbed hold of Scorpius so he didn't go missing in the commotion.

"What do you think's happening?" Jean whispered to her husband as in the grotto, Santa clutched at his red coat, looking as though he was trying to pull it away from his throat.

"Maybe a heart attack," Richard offered.

"The poor man," Jean said with a sad shake of his head. "I think we should go."

"Come on Scorpius, we'll have to see Santa another time," Richard informed his grandson.

"But I had something to tell him," Scorpius pouted.

"Another time," Jean said, eager to get her grandson away from the scene that was unfolding beside the grotto.

Other parents were also having the same idea, and everyone was hurrying their crying children away from the scene of Santa writhing on the floor. Although as people left, their view was becoming clearer and it was obvious that whatever was happening with Santa, he was fully conscious. It almost looked as though he was having a panic attack, and at one point they clearly heard him yelling that his coat was too tight and he couldn't loosen it.

"Poor man, he's clearly not cut out for handling so many children," Richard said with a shake of his head.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Jean asked her husband.

"Hopefully," Richard replied as he took hold of Scorpius by the shoulders and turned his grandson away from the grotto. "Come on, let's go and find your mother a present, Scorp."

As they led Scorpius away from Santa's grotto, neither Richard or Jean spotted their grandson glancing back as Santa, still glaring hatefully at the man who was now writhing on the floor. Neither were they aware that no sooner had they left the area of the grotto, than Santa recovered and was able to open his coat which had been smothering him. However, the incident had left Santa unable to work for the rest of the day, so their trip to see him was postponed and instead they did some more Christmas shopping before returning Scorpius home to his parents.


	4. Chapter 4

As Christmas crept closer, Hermione began to hope that her problems with Scorpius were coming to an end. Even though he hadn't gotten to see Santa with her parents, he'd calmed down significantly since that day, and even though he was still misbehaving somewhat and was still a bit frosty towards Hermione, the worst of his behaviour seemed to have passed. As such, Hermione was more than happy to have Alex over the day before Christmas Eve, and she allowed both him and Scorpius to help her in the kitchen.

"Now we'll make some cookies for Santa," she informed the two six year olds.

"Why?" Scorpius asked with a pout.

"Because we always leave cookies for Santa," Hermione replied. "Don't you think he deserves a treat for bringing you all your presents?"

"Can we make cookies for the reindeer as well?" Alex asked as his best friend scowled at the thought of making anything for the man who was trying to split his parents up.

"Reindeers normally eat carrots," Hermione said. "I was thinking we can go into the village later and buy some for the reindeers. But for now, let's make cookies."

"I thought you said Santa wasn't coming to your house," Alex whispered to Scorpius as Hermione began to get the ingredients out for the cookies.

"I warned him to stay away," Scorpius replied, recalling the letter he'd written at The Burrow.

"It sounds like your Mum still thinks he's coming," Alex said.

"If he does, he's going to wish he'd stayed away," Scorpius muttered, his little mind whirling with ways to make Santa regret coming to the Malfoy house.

"Are we ready?" Hermione asked, breaking into the boys whispered conversation.

"I guess so," Scorpius replied with a sigh.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked her son. However, before she could press the matter further, the doorbell rang. "You two wait here, I'll be back in two minutes," she warned as she hurried off to answer the door.

With Hermione out of the room, Scorpius's eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for some way he could cause trouble. Spotting the salt tub sitting beside the oven, an idea came into his head. Getting Alex to help him, he pulled a chair over to the bench and popped the lid off the salt tub. With Alex's help, he then opened the bag of sugar his mother had gotten out of the cupboard, and ever so carefully he topped the sugar bag up with salt.

"Why did you do that?" Alex asked as Scorpius jumped back down from the chair and pushed it back under the table.

"Santa won't want to eat our cookies now," Scorpius replied with a devious grin.

"Yuck," Alex spat, thinking about how salt would taste in cookies.

"Yuck," Scorpius agreed with a chuckle.

"What are you two laughing about?" Hermione asked as she re-entered the kitchen.

"Nothing," Scorpius replied with a shrug. "Can we make cookies now, Mum?"

"So now you want to make cookies for Santa?" Hermione checked.

"Yes, I want to make Santa lots of cookies," Scorpius said.

Smiling happily, and thinking that maybe Alex was having a good influence on her son, Hermione set about making cookies with the boys. Both six year olds had a whale of a time, and the morning passed with no fuss, but lots of fun and laughter. With Scorpius so eager to make cookies, they ended up with four trays worth, which Hermione promised them they could decorate that afternoon.

"Let's go and buy some carrots and get some lunch," she told the boys as she set the last batch of cookies out on the table to cool.

"Can we go to the playground as well?" Scorpius asked. "I want to play on the swings."

"Yes, we can go to the swings as well," Hermione replied, happy to let Scorpius do as he wanted as his behaviour was so much better.

The trip down to the village lasted a couple of hours, and while they were at the playground, Daphne joined them. Leaving the two boys to play on the swings, the two witches settled down on a nearby bench, using magic to try and keep themselves warm.

"How are those two not freezing?" Daphne asked with a shiver. Even though both boys were wearing big coats, hat, scarf and gloves, it was still cold to be hanging around the playground.

"I don't think children feel the cold in the same way we do," Hermione said. "Or maybe we're just getting old."

"Speak for yourself, I'm not old," Daphne huffed.

"I've certainly being feeling old these past few weeks," Hermione remarked.

"Is he no better?" Daphne asked. "He seems rather well behaved today."

"He has been pretty good today," Hermione conceded. "In fact, he's slowly being getting better for the last week or so. Mind you, he's still not tidying his room and when he wants, he's still ignoring me."

"I'm sure he'll grow out of it," Daphne said. "Besides, with Christmas almost here, I'm sure he'll soon have other things to keep him occupied. In a couple of days when he's got all his new toys, this will all be forgotten about."

"I hope so," Hermione replied with a sigh.

Fifteen minutes later even magic couldn't keep out the cold, so Hermione and Daphne dragged their children away from the playground and back to Hermione's house. Once back in the warmth, the two witches settled down with a warm cup of coffee, while the boys were allowed to decorate their cookies.

"Do you want one?" Hermione asked the two boys once they were finished and the mess they had made with the icing was all cleaned up.

"They're for Santa," Scorpius said sternly.

"I'm sure he won't mind you each having one," Hermione chuckled, plucking two cookies from the vast array on the kitchen table and handing one each to the two six year olds.

"Can we go upstairs and play?" Scorpius asked.

"Sure, but don't make too much of a mess," Hermione answered.

While Hermione and Daphne moved into the front room the two boys went running off upstairs. But what neither of them realised was that once they reached Scorpius's bedroom, he cracked open the window and they both threw away their salt tainted cookies. Scorpius then roped Alex into helping him make some signs he was planning on displaying the following day, each of which warned Santa to stay away.

Oblivious to her son's plans, Hermione was enjoying a few peaceful moments with Daphne. However, their peace didn't last too long as Draco and Blaise arrived, each of them ready to settle down and spend the festive season with their families.

"How's he been today?" Draco asked his wife.

"Good," Hermione replied with a small smile. "Let's hope he stays that way."

"He will," Draco replied confidently. With not having witnessed Scorpius's really bad behaviour first hand, he had every faith that the worst had passed and their son would return to his normal self.

"Do I smell freshly baked cookies?" Blaise asked with a sniff.

"There's some in the kitchen, help yourself," Hermione said.

"Bring me one," Draco called as his friend headed into the kitchen for a Christmas treat. "I spoke to father, and he's coming over tonight once Scorpius is in bed," he informed his wife as he sat down beside her. "By the time he gets up tomorrow morning, it'll be another white Christmas."

"Sooner or later he's going to end up so disappointed when he finds out the pair of you fake the snow every year," Hermione said as Blaise re-entered the room and handed Draco a home-made cookie.

"He won't need to find out until he's older," Draco replied with a shrug as he bit into his cookie. Within seconds he was gagging, and a glance over at Blaise revealed that he was also pulling a face and struggling with his cookie.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"They are disgusting," Blaise said without thinking.

"Blaise," Daphne hissed, nudging her husband in the ribs.

"They're all salty," Draco explained to his puzzled wife.

"Salty?" Hermione queried. Breaking off a small bit of Draco's cookie she placed it in her mouth and almost spat it straight back out it was so vile. "Bloody hell, they're horrible."

"You must have used salt instead of sugar," Draco remarked.

"How stupid do you think I am, Draco?" Hermione questioned. "I know the difference between salt and sugar. Besides, I keep the sugar in the baking cupboard and the salt is beside the oven for seasoning. I did not get them mixed up."

"Someone did," Blaise remarked.

"Scorpius," Hermione hissed, jumping off her chair and stalking into the kitchen.

Draco, Blaise and Daphne all followed her and arrived in the kitchen in time to see her remove the bag of sugar from the cupboard. Hermione then tentatively dipped her finger into the bag and licked the white substance.

"Shit," she muttered, grabbing herself a drink of water. "Someone's put salt in the sugar bag."

"Deliberately?" Blaise asked with a frown.

"I don't see how it could have been an accident," Hermione said, picking up the salt tub. "Yep, look. There was more salt in here yesterday. When I went to answer the door, Scorpius must have put some salt into the sugar bag."

"Why?" Blaise questioned. "All it achieved was ruining a perfectly good batch of cookies."

"Cookies for Santa," Hermione remarked as Draco gathered the ruined cookies and dumped them in the bin.

"Why would Scorpius want to ruin Santa's cookies?" Blaise asked. "Have you being sharing your theories with him, Draco?"

"No, I have not told Scorpius what a dubious muggle I think Santa is," Draco replied. "But something's clearly happened to make him turn against him. I think we have to face it Hermione. Our son hates Santa."

"I just wish I knew why," Hermione sighed.

"We can always ask him," Draco said, heading off to call Scorpius downstairs.

When Scorpius and Alex arrived downstairs and were asked about the cookies, Scorpius quickly came up with a story of him spilling the sugar and not wanting to get in trouble, replacing it with the salt. Neither Draco or Hermione really believed their son, but Alex backed him up, and they had no proof that the exchange of sugar and salt had been deliberate.

"Do we believe them?" Blaise asked as the boys were allowed to go into the living room.

"Hell no," Draco snorted. "Scorpius did it on purpose, but we won't get either of them to admit it."

"Well it looks like Santa is getting shop bought cookies tomorrow," Daphne said with a shrug.

"If he even comes here," Hermione muttered. "I have half a mind to cancel Christmas."

"We are not cancelling Christmas," Draco said, wrapping his arms around Hermione. "I'll have a talk to Scorpius and he'll behave for the rest of the holidays. Besides, I'm not working until the New Year, so I'll be here to support you."

Hermione took a moment's comfort in her husband's arms, before they returned to the front room with Daphne and Blaise. When they entered the front room they found Scorpius and Alex standing an open window, Scorpius grinning wickedly at something.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, closing the window and shooing the boys away.

"Midnight wanted to be in," Scorpius said, gesturing to their cat who was sitting in front of the fire grooming himself.

"Midnight has a cat flap," Hermione retorted. "I've told you before Scorpius, don't open windows."

"Sorry," Scorpius huffed, turning away from his mother and flopping down on the floor with a thud.

Taking a deep breath, before she said something she would regret, Hermione sat down next to her husband and for the rest of the day she allowed Draco to deal with their son. Not that there was much to deal with as for the rest of the day he was a perfect angel, and he didn't even complain when it was time to go to bed.

Shortly after Scorpius was settled in bed, Lucius arrived and he and Draco headed outside to create a white Christmas for Scorpius. When Lucius found two cookies under Scorpius's window, Draco explained about the cookies and Lucius had a good laugh at his grandson's antics. However, he wasn't laughing ten minutes later when they moved around to the front of the house and he found two broken tree ornaments and a neatly wrapped present lying under the living room window.

"The little git," Draco muttered, picking up the shards of the two tree ornaments, both of which were shaped like Santa. "He wasn't letting Midnight in, he was throwing these out."

"Why?" Lucius asked. "And why throw this present out?" he questioned, picking up the box and wincing as he heard broken glass jingling inside the gift.

"I wish I knew," Draco replied, taking the present from his father.

One glance was enough to tell him it was an expensive bottle of perfume he'd bought for Hermione, and had jokingly addressed from Santa following Scorpius's Christmas party. Only now it was ruined and he would have to replace it. Not that money for replacing it was a problem, but Draco was not at all happy with his son's actions.

"Maybe Hermione's right," he said to his father. "Maybe we should cancel Christmas. Or at least postpone until Scorpius is behaving himself. At the minute, I don't think he deserves any presents."

"Cancelling Christmas might only make things worse," Lucius advised. "He won't forgive you if he's getting nothing and all his friends are getting presents. If you want my advice, try and to get to the bottom of it tomorrow. If he won't talk to Hermione, see if he'll talk to you. And if that fails, send him to the manor and I'll get him to talk, even if I have to slip Veriteserum into his drink."

"You can't spike a six year olds drink," Draco chuckled.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Lucius returned with a casual shrug.

"What?" Draco stared at his father in shock, totally taken aback by his confession.

"Come on Draco, surely you can remember the talks we used to have in my study, where you admitted every bit of mischief you'd gotten up to," Lucius laughed.

"I just thought you were good at winkling the truth out of me," Draco muttered. "I didn't know I was being tricked."

"Which means Scorpius won't know if you do the same to him," Lucius pointed out. "I'm off to Blaise's now, so we can give Alex a white Christmas as well. I mean it Draco, find out what's going on, or I will, and I will not be afraid of using underhand tactics."

Knowing that his father meant what he said, especially given his admission that he'd done it in the past, Draco headed inside vowing to get to the bottom of what was bothering his son. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and he wanted everything sorted before Christmas day itself. He wanted to know what his son's problem was with Santa, and why he was making his mother's life a misery with his recent antics.


	5. Chapter 5

Despite wanting to talk to Scorpius and get to the bottom of whatever was troubling him, Draco's Christmas Eve didn't start according to plan. He had decided to speak to his son after breakfast, but for once Scorpius wasn't up at the crack of dawn, and since he had a bottle of perfume to replace, Draco was forced to leave for the shops before his son had risen.

The trip to the shops had taken far longer than Draco had anticipated, and he was genuinely taken aback by how many people had left their Christmas shopping to the last minute. It had meant that the shops were crowded, stock was flying off the shelves and it took him far longer than usual to find the perfume he wanted for his wife. Several shops had already sold out, and in the end he'd paid extra for one of the shops to sell him a bottle that was part of the New Year stock and wasn't supposed to go on sale until January.

"Never again," he complained to Hermione upon returning to their house. "It was crazy out there. Anyone would think Christmas was just sprung on us at the last minute. Doesn't anyone understand the word preparation?"

"Not everyone can be as organised as we are," Hermione chuckled. "It seems some people never learn, and every year they leave buying presents until the last minute."

"Fools," Draco snorted.

"But did you get what you wanted?" Hermione asked. She didn't know exactly what her husband had wanted, but she did know he was replacing a broken present their son had flung out of the window the previous day.

"I did," Draco confirmed with a nod. "I'll wrap it in a bit, but I think it's time I spoke to Scorpius. We can't carry on like this."

"We can't," Hermione agreed.

"So where is he?"

"He's been outside all morning playing in the fake snow," Hermione replied.

"Not so loud," Draco hissed, pleased that Scorpius wasn't around to hear Hermione reveal that the snow around the house was fake.

"He's going to find out sooner or later," Hermione muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Although actually you can call him in for lunch."

Calling Scorpius in for food, Draco planned on having a talk with his son as they ate, but Scorpius was super polite and seemed pretty jolly, so he was loathe to ruin the good atmosphere by bringing up recent events. Instead Draco avoided the topic of Scorpius's recent behaviour, and the family had a nice, peaceful lunch.

"Can I go and play with my toys in front room now?" Scorpius asked as they finished eating.

"Do you not want to go back out into the garden?" Hermione checked.

"No, I'm finished out there," Scorpius replied with a shrug. "I would like to stay inside, please."

"Of course you can stay inside," Hermione said. "Just don't make too much of a mess."

"I'll be tidy," Scorpius vowed as he thanked his mother and hurried from the room, obviously keen to play in the warmth.

"Do you think I should still have a talk with him?" Draco asked as he helped Hermione clear the table.

"I don't think it would do any harm, but I suppose you could leave it for a bit," Hermione replied. "I've got all the preparation to do for tomorrow, so you could help me if you want."

"Anything my beautiful wife desires," Draco replied with a smile as he gave Hermione a quick kiss.

"You're such a suck-up," Hermione laughed.

"I just know that it's wise to keep the wife onside," Draco joked. "I don't want any more threats of no sex for the rest of the year."

"The year only has another week to go," Hermione pointed out. "You'd survive."

"I'd rather not go without," Draco returned with a shrug. "And I'm sure you wouldn't either," he added cheekily as he gave Hermione's bottom a squeeze.

Laughingly batting Draco away, Hermione carried on doing the dishes before she and Draco spent the afternoon preparing for the following day. The couple spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, laughing, flirting and teasing each other as they made sure they were organised for Christmas. While they were in the kitchen, they were aware of Scorpius either playing in the front room, or going up and down the stairs to switch toys. Every time they shouted to check on him, he said he was fine and there was no attitude from him whatsoever.

"Maybe whatever the problem was he's snapped out of it," Draco remarked as Scorpius poked his head into the kitchen to tell them he was going to play upstairs for a while before it was time for his bath.

"He certainly seems like his old self again," Hermione said as she and Draco got themselves a well-earned drink and headed into the living room for a bit of relaxation. "And the place is as neat as a pin."

"It is," Draco said with an approving nod. The living room was spotless, and if it wasn't for the fact they knew Scorpius had spent the afternoon in the room, they would have said it had been deserted all day.

Feeling hopeful that Scorpius's devil phase was over, the couple settled down to enjoy the rest of their Christmas Eve. However, they'd barely gotten comfortable when there was a knock on the front door, and Draco went to answer it to find Blaise on the doorstep.

"What are you doing using the front door?" Draco asked as he let his best friend into the house. "It's bloody bitter out there."

"Tell me about it," Blaise retorted with a shiver as he walked into the front room and greeted Hermione. "I tried to use the floo, but the connection isn't working."

"It isn't?" Frowning Draco made his way over to the ornate fireplace and checked the floo connection. "It's on and there doesn't seem to be any problem."

"Well, I couldn't get through a few minutes ago," Blaise said with a shrug. "Maybe you've got a blockage somewhere. Can you remember last month when a bird had built a nest on the top of Theo's chimney and it affected his floo connection."

"I suppose that might have happened," Draco said as he got down on his hands and knees and peered into the fire. "Bloody hell," he gasped.

"What is it?" Hermione asked. "Is it a bird's nest?"

"No, it's our son," Draco grumbled.

"Scorpius is up the chimney?" Blaise questioned in concern.

"No, he's stuffed a bucket load of his toys up here," Draco answered, pulling several quidditch figures out of the chimney and throwing them onto the rug.

"That's what he was doing all afternoon," Hermione hissed. "He wasn't going up and down to swap his toys, he was going up to get more to stuff up the chimney."

"Why would he do that?" Blaise asked.

"Sodding Santa," Draco snapped as he got to his feet. "I am going to talk to him, and if that fails, I'm going to take father's advice and resort to his sly tactics."

Determined to get to the truth, Draco headed off upstairs to confront his son. However, instead of storming into Scorpius's room, he decided to be more crafty about things and after going quietly up the stairs, he tiptoed towards the six year olds bedroom. Hoping to catch Scorpius unawares, he peered into his son's room and found him hanging a large piece of parchment in his window.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked, causing Scorpius to jump in shock.

He also tried to hide the parchment by closing his curtains, but Draco had already seen it and was curious. Stalking across the room, he pulled the parchment from the window. However, before he got a chance to look at the message his son had written on the parchment, he became aware that the snow in the large back garden had been disturbed, and not just be general playing. It looked like a message had been shovelled into the snow, and while it was difficult to read it properly from the angle he was standing at, Draco thought it said 'Go Away Santa!'.

"What is going on, Scorpius?" Draco muttered, looking down at the parchment in his hands and finding his son had created a large poster also containing the words 'Go Away Santa!'. "Why don't you want Santa to come?"

"Santa's a bad man," Scorpius blurted. "He's trying to steal Mum."

"He's what?" Draco frowned, not quite understanding what his son was getting at.

"Santa wants to take Mum to go and live with him in the North Pole," Scorpius explained. "He's a bad man, and I want to keep him away. I don't want to go and live at the North Pole."

"No-one is going to go and live at the North Pole," Draco assured his son. "But I don't understand why you think he's trying to steal your Mum. Santa's a good guy, Scorpius. He brings children like you presents every year."

"I don't want his stinky presents," Scorpius hissed. "I just want him to go away."

"It's okay, Scorp," Draco said gently, sitting down on the bed and wrapping his arm around Scorpius, who was starting to get upset. "You can talk to me. You can tell me why you think this."

"I saw him," Scorpius whispered. "I saw him kissing Mum. Then he sent flowers, and I even found a present he left under the tree."

"So you threw the present away and destroyed the flowers," Draco muttered, everything starting to make sense. "But what kiss did you see?"

"At my party," Scorpius answered. "Santa came to my party."

"And he kissed your Mum in the library," Draco finished, now recalling the incident. However, neither he or Hermione had any idea that Scorpius had witnessed their brief moment together.

"Yes," Scorpius replied with an eager nod. "How did you know?"

"I have a confession to make, Scorpius," Draco said gently. "It wasn't Santa who came to your party, it was me. Santa was very ill and asked me to stand in for him as he didn't want to let you down. So you see, it was me kissing your Mum. And I sent the flowers, and the present was from me."

For a long moment, Scorpius just stared at him, and Draco began to wonder if he'd just totally shattered his son's belief in Santa. Although to be fair, it was preferable to having him thinking that his parents were going to split up.

"No," Scorpius eventually said with a shake of his head, rejecting what Draco had just told him. "I'm not stupid, Dad."

"I know you're not, and that's why I'm trusting you with the truth," Draco said, wondering if he shouldn't just go the whole hog and break all of his son's illusions over Santa. "I was the one kissing your Mum. I was Santa."

"You're Santa," Scorpius stated, his little face lighting up with joy as he drew his own conclusions. "My Dad is Santa!" he cheered. "Was Grandpa Lu, Santa before you? Can I be Santa after you?"

Draco didn't really know what to say to Scorpius's ridiculous conclusions, but before he could find the words to get the conversation back on track a thrilled Scorpius ran out of the room. As he followed his son, Draco could hear him calling for Hermione, and finding her coming out of the living room, he excitedly told her that he was happy to move to the North Pole.

"The North Pole?" Hermione queried, looking over Scorpius's blond head to where Draco was looking rather shell-shocked.

"It's okay Mum, I know," Scorpius said, reassuringly patting his mother on the arm. "And we can go and live in the North Pole. Then Dad can start training me to be Santa."

"Training you to be Santa?" Hermione muttered, not following the conversation at all.

"It'll be so cool," Scorpius enthused. "When can I meet the reindeer? I can't wait to tell Alex my Dad is Santa."

"He's what?" Hermione spluttered, glaring at Draco and wondering just what foolishness he'd told Scorpius.

"Scorpius, go and wait in the living room, I need to talk to your mother," Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's arm and steering her into the library, where this time he made sure to close the door properly.

"What is going on, Draco?" Hermione demanded. "Why does Scorpius think you're Santa?"

"The reason he's been playing up is because he saw us kissing at his party, and he thinks Santa in trying to steal you away," Draco explained.

"That day he was worried about me leaving you," Hermione gasped in understanding. "I'd reassured him, but then the roses arrived."

"From Santa," Draco finished. "I think he's been trying to keep him away."

"Okay, but why didn't you just tell him the truth?" Hermione asked. "Why didn't you tell him that it was you I was kissing?"

"I did," Draco answered. "I told him that Santa was ill and I was standing in for him, but he didn't believe me."

"So what? Instead he's decided that you're Santa?"

"It looks like it," Draco replied with a shrug. "He even asked if father was Santa before me."

"Lucius Malfoy as Santa Clause," Hermione laughed. "Now that would be some sight."

"What do we do, Hermione?" Draco asked. "How do we convince him that I'm not Santa? Because if we're not careful he's going to tell everyone, and we're going to have a lot of upset children on our hands. I don't want to be responsible for shattering so many children's illusions."

"I guess we convince Scorpius to keep it a secret, and we work on getting him to accept the truth," Hermione suggested. "Maybe he'll believe Lucius if we get him to explain that he was never Santa."

"Okay, let's do that," Draco agreed with a nod. "I don't think we can stop him telling Alex, but we can speak to father and he can make it clear to both boys that the Malfoys are not secretly a family of Santa Clauses."

With a plan in place, the couple returned to Scorpius and convinced him that he couldn't tell anyone about Draco being Santa. Of course as predicted they couldn't stop him telling Alex when he saw his best friend on Christmas Day, but they were still relying on Lucius to totally shatter the illusion. Only Lucius did nothing of the sort, and much to Draco and Hermione's horror, he relished telling Scorpius and Alex that the Malfoys were secretly Santa Clauses and the job passed from father to son, which meant that one day Scorpius would also become Santa.


	6. Chapter 6

**One year later. **

"I hate you two," Lucius swore, glaring at his son and daughter-in-law. "The pair of you are evil."

"We're evil?" Hermione laughed. "You're the reason we're in this predicament, Lucius."

"Bollocks," Lucius snorted. "You're the one who filled Scorpius's head with that bloody ridiculous muggle myth of Santa."

"And you're the one who played along with his theory that Santa is a job passed down the generations of Malfoy," Draco retorted. "All you had to do last year was to back me up and tell Scorpius that I wasn't Santa. But no, you thought you would have the last laugh, didn't you. Well, now the joke is on you, father."

"Some joke," Lucius muttered, sneering at the bright red costume laid out on his son's bed. "And why does it have to be red? What sort of idiot wears red?"

"Today, you do," Draco replied with a smirk.

The previous year he'd played Santa for his son's Christmas party, but this year it was Lucius's turn, at Scorpius's request. The second Hermione had mentioned the party, Scorpius had insisted that he wanted his grandfather to come out of retirement for the party. And since all this could have been avoided if only Lucius had backed Draco up the previous year, he and Hermione had made sure that their son wasn't going to end up disappointed.

"This is the final straw," Lucius stormed as he gingerly picked up the Santa outfit as though it was going to bite him. "After the party, I'm telling Scorpius the truth. He's too old to believe in such nonsense anyway."

"Good luck getting him to believe you after a year of lies," Hermione chuckled. "You've dug yourself a hole here, Lucius."

"I did not dig the hole, you two did," Lucius argued. "After all, none of this would have happened if you'd only been able to keep your hands off each other for one afternoon. But no, you had to go and let Scorpius catch you kissing when Draco was in costume."

"It wasn't deliberate," Draco protested. "We didn't know him and Alex were there."

"You should have been more careful," Lucius sniffed haughtily.

"Maybe," Draco conceded. "But you should have helped us last year."

"If I'd know this would be the result, I bloody well would have," Lucius grouched. "How was I to know Scorpius would take the whole thing so seriously?"

"Well, he has and now he expects to see his grandpa at his party," Hermione replied with a shrug. "And if you don't want to do this every year, then I suggest you find a way to tell your grandson the truth. I've got to get back downstairs, and I expect you to make your big entrance within the next half hour, Lucius."

"She's a bossy little thing, isn't she?" Lucius muttered to Draco as Hermione headed back down to the party.

"You have no idea," Draco chuckled. "And if I was you, I would do as she said. Have fun."

"Bloody kids," Lucius snarled as a laughing Draco followed his wife back to the party.

Reminding himself that he was going through this embarrassment for his precious grandson, Lucius reluctantly dressed in the Santa suit Hermione had left for him. It took a good ten minutes to get all the padding in place and for the outfit to be right, and even though he felt like an idiot, and was sure he looked like one too, Lucius quietly crept downstairs and made his big entrance into the party.

Aside from Scorpius and Alex, none of the children knew his true identity and they were all over him the second he made his appearance. Although to be fair, Scorpius and Alex seemed just as keen to see him and Scorpius loudly declared that Santa was his favourite person in the whole world.

"I can live with that," Lucius muttered to himself, taking it to mean he was his grandson's favourite person.

To be honest if it had just been the children at the party, Lucius might have found himself slightly enjoying the act, but sadly all of his son's friends were also present. Following the previous year's antics, word had spread amongst the adults as to what Scorpius had come to believe about Santa, and everyone knew that he'd asked Lucius to come out of retirement for his party. So of course everyone had turned up at the party, hoping for a good laugh at Lucius's expense.

"I have to admit, he's better than I thought he would be," Narcissa whispered to Hermione as she watched her husband take on a role she never in a million years thought she would see him play.

"As tough as he acts, he'll do anything for Scorpius," Hermione agreed.

"He's a soft touch at heart," Narcissa chuckled.

As if sensing his wife and daughter-in-law were talking about him, Lucius shot the pair an unimpressed glare as he removed himself from the throng of excitable children and made his way over to where the pair were sitting.

"I have one more present before I go," he announced, reaching into his sack and pulling out one final gift.

"Can I help open it?" Scorpius cried, running over to where Santa was just about to give his little sister, Lyra, her first ever Christmas present.

Lyra had been the big thing to happen to the Malfoy family the previous year, and she'd made her appearance into the world at the end of October. Since then, Scorpius had been in his element as the perfect big brother and he was determined his little sister was going to have the best first Christmas ever.

"Of course you can help," Hermione said as Lucius handed the parcel to Scorpius.

Scorpius quickly tore open the parcel, which contained a cute stuffed reindeer, and settled the soft toy beside his sister. He then dragged Lucius back towards the other children, where he was forced to endure anther half hour of playing nice before he found a way to excuse himself and say goodbye to the party.

"Thank you," Scorpius whispered to Draco once Lucius had left.

"For what?" Draco asked his son.

"For letting Grandpa be Santa again for my party," Scorpius replied, still whispering so none of his friends discovered the big family secret.

"That was my pleasure, Scorpius," Draco returned with a smirk. In his opinion Lucius playing Santa for the afternoon was the least he could do after his failure to support him the previous year.

Forty minutes later, a normal Lucius returned to the party, but that didn't stop the barbed comments and the laughter that came his way. In one afternoon, his cold, impassive image was shattered and he'd proven just what he would do for his family – especially his grandson.

However, Lucius was still determined to tell Scorpius the truth, it was just proving difficult to find the time to do so. He had no intention of spoiling his grandson's party, so he first of all had to wait for the guests to leave. Then Scorpius and Alex begged Draco and Blaise to allow them to go for a fly, so that also delayed proceedings a bit. Eventually Lucius decided to wait until it was Scorpius's bedtime, and he would tell his grandson the truth while he was snugly tucked up in bed.

"You can go up whenever you want, Lucius," Hermione informed her father-in-law after she'd settled both of her children in bed. "Scorpius is expecting you. I said you would read him a bedtime story."

"Good luck," Draco offered, knowing full well how hard his father was going to find shattering his grandson's illusions.

"I don't need luck," Lucius snorted. "I can tell him the truth easily enough."

"That's what I said last year," Draco said with a chuckle. "Even after you'd played along with his story, I still thought I could tell him the truth. But every time I tried, I couldn't face disappointing him."

"You just need to be a bit tougher," Lucius tutted at his son. "Honestly Draco, you've turned into a right marshmallow since you had children."

"Go on the tough guy, go and break your grandson's heart," Draco challenged. "Ten galleons says you'll come back without having told him the truth."

"You're on."

After accepting his son's wager, Lucius headed off upstairs to break the news to Scorpius that the Malfoys weren't really Santa Clauses. However, when he arrived upstairs he found his grandson's room empty. Wondering where Scorpius could be, Lucius was momentarily puzzled until he stepped back into the hallway and heard his grandson's quiet voice. Following the sound, he ended up a couple of doors down the hallway at Lyra's nursery.

Peering into the room, Lucius found Scorpius sitting beside Lyra's cot. His hands were through the bars stroking the soft hair on his sister's head and he was talking quietly to her.

"Be quiet, Grandpa," Scorpius ordered, looking up to find his grandfather standing in the doorway. "Lyra was crying so I came to tell her a bedtime story."

"Can I listen?" Lucius asked, quietly entering the room and settling down in the rocking chair beside his granddaughter's cot.

"You can listen," Scorpius said with a nod, before turning his attention back to his baby sister. "I'm going to tell you a secret, Lyra. And you can never tell anyone. Our Dad is Santa Clause."

"Scorpius, maybe this isn't the best story," Lucius suggested.

"It's the perfect story," Scorpius argued. "You need to know this, don't you Lyra. Grandpa was even Santa once upon a time, but when he got old, he stopped and Dad took over."

"I am not old," Lucius interrupted in indignation.

"But travelling around the world and delivering all those presents must be tiring," Scorpius argued. "Young people would do it better."

"I am not old," Lucius muttered to himself.

"And one day, Lyra, Dad will stop being Santa and I will take over," Scorpius continued, unaware of the offence he'd caused by calling Lucius old. "But you can never be Santa, because you're a girl and only boys get to be Santa. I suppose you could be my chief elf though. You could be in charge of the North Pole while I deliver the presents. I haven't been to the North Pole yet, but I'm hoping Dad will take me when I'm older. Do you think he will, Grandpa?"

Lucius was well aware that the question was his opening to tell the truth, but looking at his grandson's eager little face, he couldn't bring himself to shatter his dreams. After all, what harm was it doing to let him believe that his family took on the role of Santa Clause each Christmas. He would soon be old enough to realise that it couldn't possibly be true, but until that happened there was no harm in letting him have some wonder in his life.

"I'm sure he will Scorpius," Lucius replied with a small smile.

"And one day you'll get to go to the North Pole as well, Lyra," Scorpius continued, turning back to his sister. "We'll get to meet the reindeers, and the polar bears and maybe even some penguins."

As Scorpius chattered on, painting a magical image of the North Pole for his baby sister, Lucius was in awe at his grandson's vivid imagination. It seemed that once he'd decided the family were Santa Clauses, he'd given things a lot of thought. Lucius was just hoping that when the day came that he discovered the truth, he wouldn't be too heartbroken.

Once Lyra was soundly back asleep, Lucius escorted his grandson back to bed. Even though Scorpius had been insistent that he wasn't sleepy, he was sound asleep within moments of his head hitting the pillow, and Lucius left him dreaming of the North Pole and all the adventures that awaited him there.

"Well?" Draco asked when he returned to the front room and joined his wife on the sofa.

"I didn't do it," Lucius admitted.

"I told you," Draco crowed smugly.

"Why didn't you do it?" Hermione asked.

"When I got up there, he was in with Lyra," Lucius explained. "He was telling her all about how Draco was Santa, and I just couldn't bring myself to shatter his fantasy."

"So now you're saying, I'm going to have two children who think I'm Santa?" Draco asked in despair.

"Lyra's far too young to understand," Hermione assured her husband. "And by the time she is old enough to understand about Santa, Scorpius will have grown out of it. Just you watch, in a few years it will be as though this never happened."

And sure enough, Hermione was right. By the following Christmas, Scorpius was eight and was starting to become sceptical of the whole Santa myth. When he had a quiet word with Draco, and asked for the truth, Draco was finally able to admit to his son that he wasn't Santa, nor was Lucius, and nor had they ever been.

Fortunately, Scorpius took the news in his stride and he didn't resent his family for playing along with his fantasies. Nor did it spoil his love of Christmas, and while he may have been too old to believe in Santa, he made sure Lyra believed in him. Even when Lyra had outgrown Santa as well, Christmas was still a magical time in the Malfoy household. And Scorpius would always remember the brief time he'd thought his father was Santa and it was his destiny to follow in his footsteps.

 **The End.**

* * *

 **A/N – As usual, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read and review this story. I especially want to thank the vast majority of people who read this story in the fun, lighthearted spirit it was intended. To be honest, I was amazed by the reviews I received which were taking this story way too seriously. All I wanted to do was share a fun festive story, but it seems some people are too miserable to appreciate that. So thanks for those who read and reviewed the story in the spirit in which it was intended.**

 **Aside from the final chapter of Shattered Trust, this is me finished for the year. So Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year. Hope to see you all next year.**


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